Long dismissed as dull face painting, portraiture as a visual art gained new interest with the rise of contextual art history, the study of works of arts as products, reflections, and sometimes motivators of the social and cultural concerns of their time. Whether taken to encompass the studies of anonymus heads that have now been shown to belong to the seperate category of 'tronies', or confined more strictly to the representation of individuals whose historical identity is essential to the content of the work, portraiture clearly constituted a fascination for Dutch and Flemish consumers of the early modern period. The aim of this volume is to show a balanced hand of current international research on 17th-century Flemish and Dutch - apparently pokerfaced - portraiture.

Table of Contents

J. Bos, 'Between Physiognomy and Pathognomy. Theoretical Perspectives on the Representation of Characters and Emotions in the Seventeenth Century'; U. Heinen, 'Velum est timantis imago. The Portraits of Stoics and the Stoicism of Portrait'; B. Watteeuw, 'Oppervlakkig of onderhuids? Over het psychologisch portret en de psychologie van het portretteren (1600-1650)'; J. Dequeker, 'A Physician’s View Beyond the Curtains of Seventeenth-Century Flemish and Dutch Baroque Portraits'; H. Roodenburg, 'Netherlandish Baroque Portraits and Civil Conversation'; R. Van Leeuwen, 'The Portrait Historié in Religious Context and its Condemnation'; D. Meuwissen, 'A Change in Tradition. The Seventeenth-Century Portraits in the Series with the Land Commanders of the Utrecht Bailiwick of theTeutonic Order'; K. De Clippel, 'Naked or Not Naked? Some Thoughts on Nudity and Portraiture in Seventeenth-Century Flemish Painting'; R. Ekkart, 'Het portret van de schilder en zijn familie. De familie van Mierevelt geschilderd door Pieter van Mierevelt'; B. Timmermans, 'Het (familie-)portret als visuele stamboom en maatschappelijk gezicht bij de zeventiende-eeuwse Antwerpse elites'; A. Jensen Adams, 'The Family Portrait Historié and the Viewer in Narrative Time'; J. De Landtsheer, 'Justus Lipsius (1547-1606). A Scholar and His European Network'; J. Muller, 'Eucharist and Eternal Life. The Wardens of the Sacrament Chapel in the St. Jacob’s Church Antwerp, Immortalised in their Group Portrait by Pieter Thys'; Z. Zaremba Filipczak, 'Portraits of Women who Do Not Love to be Lead by the Nose'; K. Hearn, 'Pregnancy Portraits in Sixteenth- and Early Seventeenth-Century England'; K. Van der Stighelen, 'Portretten en hun perceptie. De barokke blik op het portret.'